Tom looked at Cal again, questioning. This was bucking the federal government, his license wouldn't be worth the paper it was written on if he ignored the order. To say nothing of any other punishment they might choose to hand him. "Keep going," Cal answered shortly. "And make your next jump as quickly as you can." "I am under orders to keep going," Tom answered the police. If he refused the request of an E, a lifetime of work would go down the drain. Over in his seat, Frank Norton's fingers were speeding through the intricate pattern of setting up the next jump. He and Louie were working as one man. "I am under orders to disable you if you refuse," the police warned. "We have an E on board," Tom answered. "You'd be risking a lot." "I am advised he is a Junior E," the voice said in clipped speech. "Not such a risk." "Far as I'm concerned," Tom answered laconically, "he's an E. I have to follow his orders." He nodded to Frank who touched the jump switch. There was an instant silence. They were at the approach to the asteroid belt. "They can get us here," Louie spoke up. "We have to give over controls so they can take us through. No chart can keep up to the microsecond on these asteroid movements. They have to calculate a path in short hops, and take us through a step at a time. I keep saying there ought to be an expressway out of the solar system, but ..." "What about a good long jump at right angles?" Cal asked. "Get over it instead of through it?" "It's illegal," Louie complained. "Our necks are already out," Tom said quietly. "Okay, you're the boss. But I'll have to figure it. It takes time to figure it." "Well, get going on it." "There's stuff all over," Louie explained. "Not just a band, like most people think. The asteroids have moved at right angles, too. Not so thick, but there's a globe of stuff, not just a belt. Maybe a bunch of little jumps." "We can't start making them until you figure them, Louie," Frank reminded him. The radio gave its hum of life, and a voice came through. "We have orders from space police not to escort you through, to turn you back." "This is an E ship, with an E on board. His command is to come through," Tom said. "I just work here," the voice answered as if it were bored and tired. "I take my orders from Space Control." Tom looked over at Louie. Louie apparently caught the look out of a corner of his eye, and impatiently waved a finger not to bother him. His other hand was speeding through the movements of manipulating the astrocalculator. Then he nodded his head, still not looking up, and the co-ordinates flashed in front of Frank. Now, as rapidly as Louie, Frank set up the pattern of the jump band. "I take my orders from the E's," Tom answered in a voice that matched the boredom, tiredness. Then with a nod from Frank, "Now!" he said. There was silence again. "It's going to add at least an hour," Louie complained. "I've got to pick my way through this muck."